Fireplaces are very popular in many households. However, recent studies have shown that wood-burning fireplaces may produce pollution. This has led, in some areas, to restrictions on the use of wood-burning fireplaces.
As a result, many existing fireplaces are being modified to burn gas and new fireplace installations are often gas-burning fireplaces rather than wood-burning fireplaces. Gas-burning fireplaces have the advantage that they generate significantly less pollution than wood-burning fireplaces and that they do not require messy, bulky firewood for fuel.
However, gas fireplaces suffer from the disadvantage that they generally do not provide the pleasant aroma which is associated with wood-burning fireplaces. This pleasant aroma is an important characteristic of wood-burning fireplaces which is partially responsible for their popularity. Thus, it is desirable to provide a means for generating an aroma in association with a gas fireplace to thereby achieve a semblance of the ambiance of a wood-burning fireplace.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,055 (Haller) discloses a scented fireplace fuel. The fuel is in the form of logs of predetermined length to which a durable coating is applied. An essential oil is encapsulated in the durable coating and includes a pleasant scent. The coating is designed to minimize dissipation of the scent while the logs are stored or burned in order to prolong the release of the scent during burning.
However, the concept of Haller is not useful for gas fireplaces since in gas fireplaces nothing is actually burned other than gas. Thus, it would be inappropriate to place logs into such a fireplace in order to provide a scent to the fire.
Other methods for dispersing scents are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,948,445 (Andeweg) and 5,301,606 (Ferguson). The Andeweg patent provides a vapor generator with air-freshening material and/or insecticide materials stored in a porous material and which is subject to heat accelerated vaporization release. Controlled vapor release of the stored material is attained through moderate heating and exposure of the storage material in the generator. However, the Andeweg reference employs materials and generators which are not suitable for the high temperatures which will be encountered in a gas fireplace.
The Ferguson reference relates to a gas-emitting apparatus which consists of a housing made of a thermally-conductive material and which includes a pyrolytic or combustible cartridge removably inserted into the housing. Again, the device of Ferguson is not appropriate for gas fireplaces since it employs a cartridge which is burned in use. The burning is necessary in Ferguson since its primary objective is to generate smoke rather than a pleasant scent.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a scent-generating device which is suitable for use in gas fireplaces.